Vapor-electric device



Oct'. 5,I 1943. J. H. cox :TAL 2,331,176

VAPOR-'ELECTRIC DEVICE Filed Aug. 8, 1942 BYJfW invention; and f y l ,l Fig. y2,; is a 'fragmentaryrsection of a side wall.

, y of the container4 showing vthe arrangement,v of

o the spines.

Patented Ochs, 1943?v Y UNITED-'--srAT-Es PATENT OFFICE):

' A 2,331,1'z6 o i, 4 y

VAPOR-ELECTRIC mivlca7 n Joseph H. Cox, Forest Hills, andpHenryC'. My-

ers, Irwin, Pa., assignors to Westinghouse Elec- Itric & Manufacturing Company East Pittsbul-gh, Ba., acorporation of Pennsylvania .application August s, lsiaserial No. 454,15;

.i2 claims.- (o1. 250g-27.5)

Our invention relates to a. vapor-electric device and, particularly, to means for air-cooling `vapor-electric valves. Q l "In the operation of vapor-electric converters,

fa considerable quantity of rheat is produced withinsulated relationto the containerwallsgfjA"l "iE suitable exciting device such as ar make-alive; ."electrode is supported by yanv insulatedflead-in in the vacuum containers of the valves.vv Many attempts have been made to air-cool `such de-14 vices, Vbut because of the amount of heatand the K nature of the containers,` it hasheretoforebeen impractical to air-cool converterspassing an appreciable amount of power.

When blowing gaseous fluids, such as air over' containers either smooth Vor with fins, difiicultyl is .experienced because of the layer of dead air immediately adjacentthe Surface to be' cooled.y Also, when applying n's ror other,l cooling 111cm-, bers, there is an appreciable heat loss because of' the joint between the cooling members andthe container proper.

According to our invention, we avoid these disadvantages by constructing a container having an inner surface substantially inert to mercury vapor and'having an outer surface composed of? I2' is composed o f'ajmetal, such as iron, winch-isl `'Iheexterior surfacel''jofthe containerg-IZj/'isk I Aand the `.spines struck up 'after attaching tothzfef A a metal such as copper whichhas a high thermal ,i

conductivity. In order to yreadily transfer Aheat from the exterior surface to a cooling "medium,

we provide vthe surface With a large number `of" integral spines by striking out the portionof the surface of thematerial into sharp edged spines which readily convey their heat to a surround'- ing medium.

Itis, accordingly,

to provide an air-cooled vapor-electric valve.

.It is a further object of` our inventionto kpr'ovide an improved cooling system for a container.

Itis a further object of vour invention to` pror vide a container having a pluralityof spinesfor an object ofl our inventionv 'll to the moving fluid.

modifications may be made tln'erein'y without dei dissipating they temperature to the surrounding,

medium. Y Y n Other objects-and advantages of our invention will be apparent from the following detailed description takenin conjunction with the accom-A panying drawing, in which:

Figure l isf avertical elevationlpartly section of a vapor-electric valve according .to our Fig Bis a perspective view of a fragment-*of the" surface showing the spines in detail. g ,i1

In .the.illustratedl embodiment ofjour invenfr tionl according to Fig. l, the vapor-electricfvalve llicomprises a cathode Il of vaporizable recon- .odef I3',Fpreferably =of graphite; Amaintained.fin` f 'fisfprovidei with a p1ura1iiyci spines Winther'v 'either from the iat'she'et beforeit ris attached culated about the container `l2 by any fdevice' such as a fan 20. rThe airflowing over the vspines 'the Iscope Aof, 'the appended claims. o

.having an inneri surface `substantially.finerty to f ducting; characteristics, said t outer Asurfacehafvstem I4/extending through the side'ofwthe" con taine`rgl2`.,v The inner portion I5 of the container I,

preferably ccnstructedof almetal :which has a high thermal conductivity-such as copper.

While the inner and outer portions-of thewall may be connected together inrany suitable man-H n ner,-I`prefer to solder orbraze the exteriorsurface l6 ontoy the inner container wall'i 5. The `'exterior surface lr6 .ofthe heat-conducting metalorder of approximately'l spines per square inch of surface. The spines Il `may `be kstruclr-.iulgrA o' to the converter or,v the `sheet maybe ,attached container. In` any event, the spines Il' are; of' substantiallyfsmall cross-sectional areaf having" sharpedges and integrally attached to the metaljsheet.` A coolingfiuid, such as airfisucir- I'l comes .in intimate contactv "with lthefsurfa'ce thereof, and because y of the ysharp Vedges of the spines, heat is readily transferred from the-spines While .for purposes t of.V illustration` wehave r shown and describedfa'. specific embodiment Yof l; our invention, it is apparentth'at ch'angesfand f parting from thev truespirit of'kourv invention" on``rr` We'claim as4 our invention :yl j

A cooling system' for amercury vaporiarcfgf discharge fdeviceomprising faf"container wall mercury,`an outer surface Vhaving good heat con- A ing4 a pluralityv of. integral spines, distributed [y l 2. A vapor-arc'discharge device ferrous container, anyanode and avaporizoable.f`r i` 

